It’s Graduation Day at Isaiah House.

For those of you new to the Catch, Isaiah House is a home for 60 women who have no other home in Santa Ana, California that many of our Catch members in partnership with the Orange County chapter of Women of Vision have supported once a month over the last two years with gifts, clothes, tea cups and any number of things to help them feel something special instead of just a free meal (which they get as well). Tonight will be no exception in that all 60 women will be receiving a new blanket and a certificate that reads: “In recognition of her profound and lasting contributions to many through the strength and dignity found in her character, and by her willingness to become visible so that all women who continue to sleep under a blanket of stars will never go unnoticed again.”

The goal all along, as it should be with everyone we encounter as followers of Christ, is to treat each woman with profound dignity – a dignity that belies their current station in life. For this reason we have used every neighboring event in the year, be it Christmas, Halloween, Spring Day, and now Graduation Day to bring something special that will remind them of who they are and to Whom they belong. It’s a graduation into a new way of thinking – a Commencement of Hope and hope does not disappoint because it is shed abroad in our hearts through Christ Jesus.

Along with each blanket will come a reminder that sleeping under the stars is sleeping under God’s covering, that their new blanket represents a blanket of stars – a symbol of God’s covering of love over us. Stars are God’s way of telling us that He is there even in the darkness… that even behind the clouds the stars are always shining.

And when God does shake out the stars like a blanket on a clear night, they become a covering of love. Stars tell us, “God is here, even though it’s dark,” and when the night is darkest, that’s when God’s stars shine the brightest.

As nighttime falls and darkness comes,
This blanket speaks of your love.
I am safe and warm tonight,
And the Stars are my nightlight above.
 
When in darkness look up high,
See! The Stars shine in the sky.
Stars are saying, “Child, don’t fear.”
God is saying, “I’m still here.”